El Nido Tour A vs Tour C

BRING UNDERWATER or WATERPROOF CAMERA

Basically, i wanted to do this post for people who are trying to decide which tour they should take. I don't want to beat around the bush, but i should just say that Tour A is better choice than Tour C if you go to El Nido Palawan, but if you ever have another chance to go back, tour C will probably be that reason to go back. Here, i'll help you decide.

PS: Both tours starts at 9 AM and ends at 5 PM.Tour packages are all around El Nido, and you need not worry where to find. Just make sure to book at least one day ahead or more if you go there on a peak season. Most tours have lunch included with their tours, but you have to pay the 200 Peso Fee for the environmental fee. Other tours can provide you the snorkel and goggles, but some don't, so better bring if you have one.

Tour A - Secret Lagoon, Shimizu Island, Small Lagoon, Big Lagoon, and Seven Commandos Beach.
We visited these places, respectively.

Me waiting for our ride.

It will take some time for you to wait for your boat. Though the meeting time will be by 9 AM, it will take approximately 30 minutes of waiting for you to actually start the tour. This may probably because its the rush hour (Yes, i can call it that way) All tours (maybe) starts at 9 AM, so the beach will be full of boats. So we could assume that there will be a traffic jam between boats. So just be patient.

Hidden Lagoon

Hidden Lagoon

Shimizu Island - We ate our lunch there

Lunch is served fresh. While you enjoy the beach, your guide will be busy cooking your lunch. Mostly its a combination of fresh fruits and meat (both seafood and pork) and water. I just wish they would provide ice cold coke, but for my experiences there, i have never had coke served on our tour. So deal with the hot weather with water.

Entrance to small lagoon

Entrance to small lagoon

If you think your tour is done, well it aint finish yet. Maybe by this time, you are exhausted, but dont be :) you still have two more stops to go, and both are still worth dipping in the water for ^___________^

Big Lagoon

Seven Commandos Beach

Tour C - Matinloc Shrine, Talisay Island (lunch area), Secret Beach, Hidden Beach, Helicopter Island.
Just let the guide explain these places :) if i would explain it here, there is no sense in listening to your guides ^^,

Matinloc Shrine

Compared to Tour A, Tour C's Matinloc Shrine is pretty historical. So you might want to lend your ears more attentively to your guide.

Talisay Island - Lunch area

For some reasons, we immediately proceeded to our "Lunch Destination". In my honest opinion, Tour A's Shimizu Island is better. Now that im remembering it, it was quite similar in some way, but I still prefer Shimizu Island because it was less rockier than Talisay Island. But there were more fish to see in Talisay Island than that in Shimizu (or was it just because of the weather)

Talisay Island - Lunch area

Inside Secret Beach

You would need to swim to get inside the Secret Beach. Its quite deep, so if you cant swim, get a life jacket and let someone drag you in :)

Hidden Beach - from afar

What's the difference between Hidden beach and Secret Beach? Your guide will explain, don't worry. I wont explain here, because I don't want to spoil your trip by stealing you guide's job :P This way too, you will listen to them.

Helicopter Island

My friend right here, maybe want's to promote the Island. I don't know... I would rather go back to 7 Commandos beach from Tour A rather than in Helicopter Island. Don't get me wrong, but this place too is great, just that the beach in 7 Commandos is more white than Helicopter Island. I think in the end, its about personal preference..

so...

tour a is worth 1200 peso (as of march 2014) tour c is 1400 [ without environmental fee]
tour a's first destination will take around 30 minutes to arrive, tour c will take 50 minutes maximum,
tour a is a common destination for first timers.
tour c will require a lot more swimming than tour a.
but both are great and will be a very exhausting trip...so enjoy :]